Cot



l. S. PURCELL COT. APPLICATION FILED MAY 3| 1919.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.,

2 sHEETs-sHEET 1.

'7;u f-ce// I I I I I I I I ,I I I I I I I I 'zif'f ISAAC` S. PURCELL, OE OAK'PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 TENTOBED COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

COT.

application fiiea' May 8,

To aZZ whom 'it may concemt Be'it known that I, IsAAo S. PURGELL, citizen of the United'States, residing at Oak Park, in the county of Cook'and State of Illinois, have invented 4certain new and useful Improvementsin a Cot; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofl the invention, such as will enable others slrilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to folding cots, and in one of its general aspects aims to provide an effective air jacket below the bed of the cot, thereby avoiding'thenecessity of using heavyand bulky padding to insurecomfort to the occupants lof the cot. In another aspect, my invention relates to folding cots of a type particularly suitable for use in automobiles, and aims to provide simple means ifor rigidlysupporting a cot with the bedv stretched above the seatsv and without having any of the'supporting parts engaged with the cushioning of the-seats; also, to provide simple, effective, and easily operated meansfor tensioning' the bed of such a cot. Furthermore, my invention aims to provide afolding? cot inwhich the legs can be compactly folded close to the end rails, to provide a cot which'can easily be erected within an automobile, and tc provide an Vair-jacketing member'below the vbed of the cot which will also afi'ord a weather-proof housingv for the cot bed and for the major portions of the end' rails when the cot is rolled up into a compact fibundle. F urthermore, my invention aims'to provide a folding cot of the classdes'cribed, in whichthe sti'aps used for securing thefcot in operative position will alsoA serve for'securing the rolled. up Vcot in its compacted form, and in which the straps will? serve this ,purpose while continuously attached to the' end rails of the cot. lMy invention-;also aims to provide simple means fo'riefectively stiffening the end rails of the cot, toprovidefa' simple and effective hinge for seeuring each leg to one of the'end rails,

Vand-to Vprovide efiective means lfor simultaneously securving both the hinges and the straps tothe'endrails; Stilllfurther objects will appear 'from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in whichw i Figure 1 is a 'sidefelevation showing the cot of 'my' invention as installed for use in an automobile;` i

specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

1919. serial Nov. 295,887.

F ig. 2 is a slightly enlarged view of the same cot compacted into a bundle.

3 is an end view of the cot, with the tensloning straps omitted, showing the legs both in their extreme raised positions and in an intermediate position, and also showing one of the legs folded close to the adjacent end rail.

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of one of the end rails, showing how the legs fold against the latter. i

Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse section through the bed of the cot and the wrapping member which ai'fords the air jacket under the bed.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged and fragmentary section through one of the end rails, showing the method of stiifening the latter.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged transverse section through one of the end rails, showing the connection of the latter with the hinge carrying the leg and with one of the tensioning straps.

In the embodimentof the drawings, the subject of my invention includes a bedbottom 1 stretched between a pair of end rails 2 and 3, each of which end rails is supported by a pair of legs hinged to the same. Une pair of the legs,rnamely the one intended for the rear of the car, is desirably made of such length as to set upon the rear seat of the car when the cushion is removed from the latter, `as shown at 4 in Fig. 1. The corr'esponding forward legs 5 are desirably 'longer thanthe rear legs 4, so that they may reach the floor of the car in 'front of the' front seat. To tension the bed of the cot and to keep theilegs from swaying l'ongitudinally -of the car, I provide pairs of straps 6 and 7 for connecting the rear and forward end rails with rigid parts of the automobile; For example, the rear straps 6 may desirably be loped Aover the socalledrest irons 8 as shown in Fig. 1, while the forward straps 7 may lead to the support for the bow., In each case, I desirably provide each strap in the form of ani endless loop* having'suitable means for adjusting its length, and desirably pass Veach strap through the eye of a swivel bolt 9, extending through one of the end rails near an end of the latter. The shank of this pivot bolt desirably also acts las a swivel for a pair of angle'plates 10 disposed at opposite sides of the end rail (as show in F ig. 7) and riv- 30 wrapper desirably extends around the end carried thereby into any desired position ranging from the Vertical position shown in full lines in Fig. 3 to a position contiguous to the under side of the adjacent end rail, as also shown for one leg in dotted lines in the same figure. Consequently, by moving the legs to'positions more and more closely approaching the 'extreme vertical position, the end rail can be raised, thereby coperating with the straps 6 and 7 in tensioning the bed of the cot.

To prevent the tips of the legs from slipping on the floor` of the car, or on the seat, I'desirably equip the free end of each leg with a. projecting'tip. I also desirably taper the legs and overlap them asshown in Fig.

i 4, so that they will fold alongside each other underneath the adjacent end rail and into a width closely approximating the width of the end rail. To stifi'en the end rails against the strains to which they are subjected by the weight of the occupants of the cot, I desirably reinforce each :of these rails with a wrapper 11 of heavy sheet metal, which rail Zforfmore than its vsingle periphery and desirably has one'` end of the bed bottomV 1 clampedbetween the overlapping parts of this sheet metal wrapper, so that this clamp-A .ing' will. coperate with the nails 12 in sei' curing the bed-bottom to the end rail. Thus arranged, it will be evident from Fig. 6 that the 'metal `wrapper 11 forms a tube which initself would have considerable stiifness and which reinforces the wooden end'rail 3,

so that I can secure the dcsired rigidity in the latter i without using an excessivcly bulky orV heavy rail. VAssociated with the bed-bottom, l, I'desirably provide a wrapper 13 of oilcloth or the like, which wrapper `is made of a piece of fabric considerably wider and soinewhat longer than the portion of the bed-bottom between the end rails, and is secured substantially to the periphery of this pcrtion of the bed-bottom. Owing to the greater fdimensions of this wrapper 13, the'latter will sag below the bed-bottom,

somewhatafter the manner of Fig. 5, thereby aifording an air space between the two. As this airv space'is considerably greater than the total of the air spaces in the interstices of several Fblankets, .I readily obtain an elfectivethermal insulation greater than would be'secnred by the use of a' series of such lblankets or pads, and without either the bulk or the weight of the latter. Then Vwhen vthe legs are folded against theiendV rails, the bed-'bottom can be wrapped around these rails as shown in Fig. 2, With the ,straps are loosened from the end rails and the fabric of the cotis unrolled: with each pair of legs still folded against7 the adjacent end rail. Then-each pair oflegs is unfolded part way and the legs are set approximately into their. desired positions while diverging upwardly at acute angles. Next, fasten the straps 6 and 7 to convenient portions of the car and draw up these straps so vas to pull the bed bottom 1 approximately taut. Then I increase this tension on the bed-bottom by spreading' each pair oflegs farther apart and thereby raising the end rails. In practice, the erection as just described may be accomplished very quickly 'and by employing the change in angularity of the legs as one of the means of tensioning the bed-bottom, I amp-able to securev a taunt bed bottom and to hold the entire structure against swaying even when subject-edto the strains of 'having the 'occupants climb into the cot or move around upon the latter. Moreover, by placing the legs with their tips in suitable positions, I canI readily keep both the legs andthe end rails away from the upholstery of 'the'carg so that Ido not damage the leatherras has beenthe case withcots heretofore provided for 'the samepurpose. However, while I have pictured anddescribed my invention as embodied in a folding cot having forward legs adapted to rest upon theifloor vof the automobile, and ;having pivot members also afl'ording the connections, to the tensioning straps, I do not wishto be limited to these or'other details of the `construction here disclosed, it beingobvious that the same might be modified in many ways without departing from' the spirit of vthe appendedclaims; For example, the forward legs' 5 might be set upon the forward seat of the automobile after, removingV the cushion from thelatter, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. i So'also,

I. do vnot wish to be .limitedtoV a. non-adjustable effective length of thej'cot, as the latonly periphery of the `end rail7 in once` entirely o respectvely, a pair of eye bolts secured to each end rail, fieXible tensioning elements secured at one end to respective eye bolts and adapted to have their other ends secured to fixed parts to initially tension the bed bottom, a supporting leg pivoted on each eye bolt and the supporting legs associated With each end rail being held in engagement With a support and in downward convergence by the inital tensioning of the 10 vsaid bed body and flexible elements and dispose said bed body at a greater elevaton 15 with respect to the support.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, May 3, 1919.

ISAAC S. PURCELL. 

